


baby, it hurts when you look at me like that, (this feels a lot like heartache and i'm all out of jack)

by namedawesome



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chloe is going through a lot and yeah she gets to be upset, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag: 4x07, F/M, Kinda, Lucifer gets shot but in a fun way?, Lucifer is also very upset, Trixie Has Nightmares, basically everyones upset, i shouldn't be posting this now but here we are, its like the witching hours but for fic, look guys it 410am, slight mention of Eve, so is trixie, the ficcing hours, these tags are getting out of control, well Linda's not upset but she definitely needs a vacation, well it causes problems, yeah chloes emotional shes had a crazy few months
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26541730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namedawesome/pseuds/namedawesome
Summary: Lucifer was the only person that Trixie had ever watched die. She knew that he had because he’d told her and her mom that he died but got better… and Lucifer never lied. Which is why when she watched him get shot this time, she was sure he was going to fall over and bleed like he had the last time. But he hadn’t, he’d just kept growling and walking, and he’d even broken the bad guy’s hand (she only knew that because Maze had told her what it sounded like once). She had been so glad that he was there to protect her, and she was scared that he was going to die again so she’d rushed past Eve just as the elevator doors were opening and crashed into Lucifer’s side even as he snarled at the man he had pinned to the ground.
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Trixie Espinoza & Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 47
Kudos: 356





	baby, it hurts when you look at me like that, (this feels a lot like heartache and i'm all out of jack)

Lucifer was the only person that Trixie had ever watched die. She knew that he had because he’d told her and her mom that he died but got better… and Lucifer never lied. Which is why when she watched him get shot this time, she was sure he was going to fall over and bleed like he had the last time. But he hadn’t, he’d just kept growling and walking, and he’d even broken the bad guy’s hand (she only knew that because Maze had told her what it sounded like once). She had been so glad that he was there to protect her, and she was scared that he was going to die again so she’d rushed past Eve just as the elevator doors were opening and crashed into Lucifer’s side even as he snarled at the man he had pinned to the ground. 

She clung to him even as she heard her Mom and Dad trying to coax her away from him. Lucifer was safe and she wanted to stay with him until the bad guys were gone. She knew Lucifer didn’t exactly like it when she hugged him, but she thought that maybe he might let her just this once. 

There were a few moments of shuffling, and a moment where she thought her dad was trying to pull her away from Lucifer, but it had been Lucifer trying to move away from the bad man. “Hush now, urchin, it’s quite alright. They’re being taken to the station, darling,” he told her. She didn’t let go of his waist, and he ended up half dragging her as he took a step. “Spawn?” he asked, placing a hand on her head when he realized that she wasn’t letting go. 

“He shot you…” she sniffled, pulling back from where she’d buried her head in against his side just a bit to look up at him.

“He did,” Lucifer sighed, and then he shot a harsh look at Eve, like he was mad at her for letting Trixie see what happened. “Bu-”

“You were shot? Where?” Chloe asked, easing into Lucifer’s space. Trixie saw her place a hand on his other side. “Do you… Was I too…”

“Not even a scratch, Detective,” Lucifer told her, a gentle smirk in place. 

Trixie watched as her mom let out a sigh of relief. “Trixie, baby, are you okay?” Chloe asked, kneeling and placing a hand on her back.

“Lucifer got shot…” she said, her voice shaking. 

“No, Beatrice, I’m not hurt, darling,” he told her gently. Much more so than he usually would be. Maybe he was hurt and just hiding it. But… but there was no blood this time. Not like there was last time.

“You- you’re not?” she sniffled, and then, against her will, tears started streaming down her cheeks. 

He sighed again and stiffened as she started crying in earnest. “No, urchin, I’m not,” he told her, his voice quiet. He was already getting stared at by one of the officers, looking between him, the gun, and the flattened bullets that littered the space between Pony Boy and himself. He hoped that he wouldn’t have to explain much. 

He was also hoping that the urchin wouldn’t cry on him too much more, but the Detective had already pried her off of him and gathered her close. He watched as she soothed the child, swaying back and forth and placing soft kisses to her hair (he was sure that he was the only one that could tell that the Detective was upset, the slight furrow in her brow, and yet here she was being strong for her daughter, for everyone around her). She was telling her daughter that everything was okay. “It’s okay, Monkey, I’m here, baby,” she whispered. She was stroking Beatrice’s back as she swayed, and Lucifer’s head tilted almost against his will. He’d seen this before in movies and on television, but it had never made him… he’d only felt like this once before… He’d have to ask Linda what all that was about at his next appointment. 

Once everything was taken care of and Chloe had cornered him on the balcony to… to tell him that he could still be good, that he… that he wasn’t just the Devil anymore, he went off to stop Tiernan from doing what cowardly, rich men always did. He stopped him from running. 

The look on Chloe’s face when he showed up with Tiernan was… it made him feel like perhaps he could be good if he tried. But then… his wings had… and he just… how could he _ever_ think that he could be anything other than the Devil? Than a monster? He called Linda and she was… he’d shown her his wings and she had been horrified (he’d seen it all over her face). He’d cried and she’d tried to help him through it, but he couldn’t forget the state of his wings not at a time like this. But he was calmer now, at the very least. There was a long moment of silence between them, and he closed his eyes thinking about how he’d felt watching the Detective comfort the urchin. He was tempted to ask Linda to wait as he washed his face so he could ask her about it, but he thought that perhaps he’d already kept her too late. Better sooner than never, he supposed… 

“Doctor?” he started, but when she looked at him he stalled.

She folded her hands in her lap, something she did whenever she was waiting for him to speak. “Yes, Lucifer?” she asked, and her voice sounded pleasant enough. He thought that she would be tired of him by now…

“I… earlier… the urchin was here, I… she saw what happened, what I did to those men and she… she thought that I’d been hurt, but…” he let out a harsh sigh. “When she started crying after, the Detective was… comforting her and I… I felt something I’d only felt once before.”

Linda’s brow furrowed, “You don’t know what it was?” 

“No,” he said simply, and then he stared down at his hands. “It was after the Detective’s poisoning… She and the urchin were lying in her hospital bed…” He shook his head. “It hurt, but it…” he sighed harshly, “it felt like… like wanting, but… different… deeper and…” He trailed off and looked away, trying not to think about how fragile he felt at that moment. 

“And?” Linda prompted.

Lucifer closed his eyes and sighed heavily, guilt hitting him in the gut, like an order from Father used to. “I shouldn’t want something like that so badly…” he told her his voice raw. He was still upset, was still a monster, and both of those things made him tear up against his will. “I’m a monster, and I shouldn’t… The Detective and her offspring are good and… and I don’t believe I ever have been…”

“Lucifer, you _are_ a good man,” Linda told him, leaning forward. “You protected Trixie and Eve, didn’t you?” 

“I will always protect the one’s I care about, Doctor,” he told her. 

Linda gave him a small, sad smile and said, “That’s what makes you good, Lucifer. All anyone has to do to be good is try and do good things.” He felt Linda’s eyes on him for a long moment, like she was waiting for him to respond, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. “What did you find yourself wanting so badly?” she asked, after a long pause between them.

Lucifer wrapped his arms around himself and let out a harsh sigh. With a broken whisper, he said, “I wanted to hold the both of them… I wanted to… to be close to them? I… I don’t know…” He looked up at her and saw that she was just waiting for him to continue, her face holding no judgement. “I… I don’t…” he shook his head, frustrated. “It feels warm and it hurts all at once… and I… I feel like I don’t-”

His phone rang and he almost scrambled to answer it. This night had already been far too emotional. “Lucifer Morningstar,” he answered, clearing his throat. He hadn’t even looked at the caller ID.

“Lucifer,” Chloe’s voice sighed in relief and desperation all at once. 

“I’m here, darling,” he murmured, sitting up straight in his chair. He could tell that she needed him, and he didn’t have it in him to fail her again tonight. 

“I- can you come over?” she asked, sounding out of breath and he could hear someone crying on the other end. “Trixie had a nightmare and she keeps telling me that you’re dead, and I…” She let out a shaky breath and Lucifer had to hold in a sob at the desperation her voice held. “Just… Please, Lucifer?” she sounded like she was trying not to break down like her daughter was.

“I’ll be there as soon as I’m able, darling,” he told her, trying to keep his voice calm for her, because he thought it was what she needed, him being strong for her. He waited until she hung up the phone and then turned to Linda. “Could I drop you anywhere, Doctor?” he asked, distracted, as he hurried in and out of rooms looking for his shoes and other parts of his outfit. He paused. Perhaps he should change shirts… the urchin hadn’t been able to look away from the bullet holes in it earlier that day. 

“No, but where are you going?” she asked, standing. 

“The Detective’s offspring is having a bad night, and Chloe asked if I could…” he stopped and stared past Linda’s shoulder. He caught his reflection in the glass, the greenery he had placed out on the balcony reflected back and showed him a mockery of something he’d been once. 

It took Linda calling his name to realize that he’d almost forgotten about the Detective. 

“I really should go,” he told her, breathing heavier than he meant to. 

Linda nodded, “Change your shirt first.”

He looked down. Right. He turned towards the closet, grabbing the first shirt in reach. It didn’t quite match the trousers he had on, but that sort of thing wasn’t important to the Detective at this time of night. He was ready before the elevator reached the waiting Doctor Martin, and he slipped inside with her. “Are you sure you’re alright driving, Doctor?” he asked. He did want to get to Chloe’s as quickly as he could, but Linda was his friend, and with child. 

“I’ll be fine,” she told him with a smile. “Go see Chloe and Trixie. It sounded like they need you.”

As soon as they stopped at the garage level, he was tempted to use his super speed to get to his corvette but thought that that wouldn’t be very polite to Linda who was parked right next to him. He did hurry through turning the car on and driving out of the car garage, but that was because he thought that the Detective was having as rough a night as her daughter. He was anxious though the entire drive, but there wasn’t anyone on the road, so the drive was relatively quick (he _did_ like to speed, and this was certainly a situation that warranted it, and he thought, that for once the Detective would agree). 

He paused briefly before he got out of the car, but then he saw her silhouette in the window, watching him, and nothing could stop him from rushing inside. She opened the door just as he got there and gripped at her hand just as much as she was his own. “Lucifer,” she sighed, and then let him go to lock the door. “She just cried herself to sleep again… she keeps waking up and crying and she didn’t want to go with Dan, and I just… I almost lost her today…” She wiped away some tears, but none followed after them.

“No, darling, I’d never allow it,” he told her. She opened her mouth to protest, but he tutted at her with a hand on her cheek, his thumb stroking the tear tracks there. “I would protect her with my last breath. Which would give you enough time to reach her…”

Chloe’s face started to collapse in on itself, but after a few deep breaths it was like she was able to stave it off. “Can we… could we… on the couch?” she fumbled at him.

If Lucifer had it in him he would have chuckled at her. He sat on the couch and she made an excuse about getting him a glass of water. He knew she needed a moment, so he didn’t tell her that he wasn’t thirsty, but when she came back she sat a little too far away from him for his liking. And hers, it seemed, because she frowned at the cushion between them. He scooted closer tentatively, and she met him in the middle, a scant two inches between them. His arm was resting along the back of the couch and Chloe was curled up, facing him with her knees tucked under her chin. She wiggled her toes and he knew that if they sat there long enough, she would tuck them under his thigh. “Are you alright, Chloe?” he asked after a moment of them staring at each other. 

“Yeah, just worried about Trixie,” she bobbed her head and looked away from him. 

He could tell that she wasn’t telling him everything. “The urchin being upset wouldn’t affect you like this, Detective…” he sighed.

She let out a broken chuckle and sniffled, looking up at him once again. “No, it wouldn’t…” she sniffled, but she didn’t say anything else. 

They were silent for the longest time, long enough for Chloe to tuck her toes under his thigh, and for Chloe to start yawning. “Sometimes I feel like I’m losing you,” she sighed. He turned to stare at her, his brow furrowed. She glanced at him and then sighed. “You’re just… this whole case, it felt like you were slipping through my fingers. Ever since we started working together again, I’ve been…” she sniffled, “I’ve been scared that you’ll leave me and never come back…”

“Darling,” he started, but he had no idea what to say. 

“It’s okay,” she told him, “because I’m… we’re just humans and you, you’re literally a son of God, an angel, so of course you’d get bored eventually.”

“Chloe… Darling, have you any idea…” he shook his head, and his hand rose to her leg, sliding up along her calf until it settled naturally, his thumb stroking the soft fabric of her pants, as she started to tell him that it was alright. “Chloe, you are the only human that’s ever tethered me to one place,” he told her, a little shocked that he had managed more than a word or two. “You are… on my mind even when I’ve just left you… When we’re apart, I…” he was looking into her eyes and momentarily, his breath was taken from him. “It’s like a part of me aches for you…”

She stared at him, her mouth open, but before she could speak, there was a sharp cry from the urchin’s room. Chloe rushed to her daughter and Lucifer followed, a little apprehensive, but ready and willing to help (he just hoped that by the time he got there, there would be less snot and tears…). “Mommy!” Trixie called on a sob. When Lucifer got to the doorway, the urchin’s face was buried in Chloe’s shoulder and she was sobbing quietly (every so often, he made out his name and the word ‘dead’, which made him sigh). Chloe managed to calm the little girl down enough for her to lift her head and wipe at her eyes, which gave her the opportunity to catch sight of him. “Lucifer?” the little girl sobbed.

He reached out and brushed a tear off of her cheek with the back of his finger. “I’m here, urchin,” he said, much softer and fonder than he normally would have. 

“You got shot,” she told him reminding him of Chloe after she’d killed Malcolm, but there were tears in her eyes and on her cheeks. And she was so much smaller than her mother.

He let out a long, slow breath. “Well, yes, but… I never got a scratch on me, love,” he told her. “I don’t get hurt like you or your mum,” he said.

“But when the bad man…” she sniffled. 

Lucifer shook his head and came closer. One of his arms went around Chloe and he pulled them so that they were both pressed against him. “That was different, I…” he sighed, frustrated. She was looking at him, her brow furrowed, and she looked so very like Chloe that it felt like he’d been shot in the gut all over again. “You… You know who I am, don’t, little urchin,” he said and then sighed quietly. He didn’t think that this _child_ could possibly understand what he was…

She nodded with a deep sniffle, “You’re the Devil. Maze told me after I asked her about your scary eyes…”

Lucifer paused. “Right…” he managed. Well… Maze had certainly never been one to coddle… “Well, that means that I can’t get hurt normally. Only when I’m… It’s different…” he settled on. 

“Why wasn’t there blood this time?” she asked, and she gripped his sleeve in her hand, like she was scared of him disappearing.

“Because your mum wasn’t there,” he told her. She nodded slowly, like she was trying to understand what that meant, but didn’t let go of him as she laid her head on her mother’s shoulder. Chloe hitched Trixie up as much as she could and then leaned heavily against Lucifer, knowing that he would hold them both when she felt like she wasn’t strong enough. He held them tightly, the part of him that had been aching easing just a bit. He hadn’t been able get an answer out of Linda when he’d asked what it was, but… maybe the Detective would be kind enough to tell him. If he could find the courage to ask…

“Are you gonna stay?” Beatrice asked him, making him tear his eyes away from Chloe as she was leaning against him. 

He sighed and placed a hand on the back of her head briefly. “Yes…” he whispered. He looked up at the ceiling, past it, if he was being honest. He wasn’t asking for anything (he hadn’t since the night he killed Uriel, screaming at the sky while Maze was unconscious “I didn’t mean to, Dad, it was an accident, please… please forgive me… please…” until he’d remembered who he was and why they called him the Devil in the first place…), he never did, but at moments like these he always had to tell his Father, ‘ _Don’t take them_ ’ just for his peace of mind. 

The urchin fell back to sleep fairly quickly, if Chloe’s relieved sigh could mean anything, and once she placed her daughter back in bed, Lucifer led her back to the couch. He sat so they were pressed against each other and handed her the water she’d got for him. Lucifer waited for her to calm down, his head leaning against the back of the couch but turned towards her, watching her face. She was frowning at the glass in her hand like it held her broken heart. He wondered what he’d done this time… She looked so tired… 

“Why don’t you rest, Detective?” he suggested. “After all, you’re usually in bed _hours_ ago…” he gave her a gentle, fond smirk so that she’d know he was kidding.

She huffed at him, gave him a tired smile, and then leaned against him. Not heavily, not like she had when carrying the urchin, but enough that his shoulder was starting to feel warm. They both sighed at the same time, and Lucifer tried not to stare at her even though she was absolutely beautiful. “I didn’t mean to drag you away from your evening…” she told him, her voice suddenly quiet. “I was just… I’m sorry if I interrupted anything, I just…”

“I was just with Linda, darling,” he told her. He couldn’t make himself look at her suddenly, the thought of what he’d become… his wings, what they looked like now. He was a monster, he’d scared the urchin, had put her in danger in the first place… What he’d done to Julian was monstrous, but the fact that he hadn’t regretted it until now, until this moment, was what made him evil. 

He could hear the furrow in her brow when she asked him, “At her office?”

“No, I- She came to the penthouse, I-” he cut himself off. She placed her hand on his bicep and uttered his name softly. Their eyes met, and Lucifer felt a little breathless. He shook his head and sighed, “I was having a… bad night.”

She frowned but rested her head against his shoulder again. “Do you want to talk about it?” she whispered. He hesitated, as he always did with these things, and Chloe hurried to add, “You don’t have to, Lucifer, I just- I thought that you’d-”

“Thank you, Detective,” he gave her a tender smile. “I… I spoke to the Doctor about it, I- it should…” He sighed. And then straightened. “Actually, darling, there was something I never got an answer to, and maybe you could help.” She looked up at him, and he took a moment to try and remember what he was going to ask (those eyes of hers just got to him sometimes). “There was… when you were holding the urchin back at the penthouse… I-” he cut himself off with a sigh. 

Chloe turned to face him, her brow furrowed but expression open. “You what?” she asked him. 

He frowned at his hands and sighed frustrated. “Why did I want- What feeling was that?” he asked at a whisper.

She blinked at him. “What feeling?” she asked. 

He scoffed. “I don’t know!” he told her, and she gave him a look. He sighed and looked around trying to figure it out. His brow furrowed. “When you were poisoned…” he started softly, “the… I saw the two of you sleeping…” He glanced at her; she was watching him, and he looked away. “It… ” he sighed and tried to pull away from her. She just uttered his name again and placed a hand on his. He dragged his eyes up to hers and looked at her to steady himself for a moment. “I know what it feels like to want something, it’s why I’m the Devil, I suppose,” he scoffed. “But, Detective, I don’t ever remember it hurting like this…” He brought a hand up to his heart and looked at her. 

Her furrowed brow had cleared a little and she was looking at him like she had the night Charlotte had been… He almost thought she was going to kiss him again but all she did was brush her fingertips against his jaw. “You wanted to keep us safe?” she asked. 

“No, I remember feeling that with bloody Malcolm,” he shook his head. 

Chloe nodded, but her hand fell to his shoulder, her fingers fiddling with the collar of his shirt. She covered the hand he had pressed to his chest, the hand he hadn’t known was still there. She was watching him carefully, and he had to look away before she pulled him in too deep. “Lucifer?” she pushed. Her hand didn’t move but she squeezed his.

“She was already safe,” he whispered. “I…” he sighed and shook his head, looking down at his knees. “I don’t know, Detective…” He raised his eyes to hers, hesitant, and saw that she was still watching him, her brows furrowed. She was thinking but he knew she needed more from him to figure it out. “You were… holding her and it,” he swallowed hard against the lump in his throat, “it still aches…” 

He caught her eyes and she shook her head at him, but her lips were curved upwards and she was looking at them with those eyes of hers (open wide and deep in more ways than he’d ever thought they could be). “Lucifer,” she sighed, shaking her head again, a teary smile on her face. “You care about her, you wanted to make sure she was okay…”

He shook his head frustrated and pulled away from her. “I know! It’s not- There’s-” he cut himself off with a harsh sigh. “It’s different…” he told her. 

He could feel Chloe watching him, but he didn’t know what more he could tell her. “She was upset, she thought that I’d been hurt and I- You had her, I _knew_ she was safe, so why… why did it only…” He looked at her, feeling a little helpless because he didn’t know what to say. “And it wasn’t just her, it was…” he looked away with a heavy sigh. She didn’t want him anymore, so he didn’t know why he was telling her this but… Well, he’d always made terrible choices, so why would he stop now? 

“What, Lucifer?” she asked him. 

“It was you,” he sighed. “You _and_ the urchin, and you were upset! And I didn’t know how to fix it, and then she started crying and I-” He cut himself off with a shake of his head. “You walked away from me,” he had to work past the lump in his throat again, “and it still hurts…” he placed a hand on his chest again. Chloe nodded slowly, he could tell that she was thinking, but he didn’t know what. A tear fell down her cheek and he felt a sharp pain beneath his hand. Without thinking, he reached for her and wiped the tear off her cheek. He hadn’t meant to upset her. “I’m- I didn’t mean to upset you, Detective,” he told her softly. 

“No,” she told him with a shake of her head. “No, I’m not, I-” she cut herself off with another shake of her head. “Lucifer,” she was looking up at him, those eyes of hers wet with tears and shining. She lifted a hand to his face, her fingers tracing the edge of his jaw, “You love us; that’s why…”

He blinked at her. _Oh_. Right. He did, didn’t he? Had never stopped. 

“We love you too, that’s why Trixie is so scared that you were going to di-” she cut herself off with a shake of her head and pulled away to wipe at her face. 

He sighed watched her for a moment. It was like she was trying to convince herself that he wasn’t going to die. Well, he couldn’t let his Detective be this upset about something that hadn’t happened. “I didn’t die, darling,” he told her softly, covering her hand with his. 

“I know,” she sniffled. She flipped her hand in his and grasped it tight. She was still upset…

He hummed softly in reply but pulled her into his arms anyway. She always seemed to feel better after a hug, and he thought that one of his hugs could be as good as one from Miss Lopez. He wrapped his arms around her, hoping that he could at least give her some comfort. He was surprised when she shuffled as close as she could and laid her head on his shoulder. Lucifer tightened his hold on her and rested his chin on her head. “Would you like me to stay the night?” he asked her softly. 

She slipped her arms low around his waist and settled deeper into his shoulder with a sigh. She didn’t answer him, but she didn’t let go either. He sighed and pulled her closer. He supposed that he could stay. He didn’t particularly want to go home, and Eve had left by the time he’d returned from dropping Tiernan off at the precinct. 

He held her close until she relaxed against him, and then he waited until she’d fallen asleep to move her. He just laid her down on the couch and stood there watching her. She’d said she was afraid of losing him. She wouldn’t, not if it was up to him, but if she was bringing it up… The urchin’s reaction must have really got to her…

He walked over to the urchin’s door and peeked in. She was blinking slowly up at him through tired eyes and silent tears. He had caused this hurt too… “Alright, urchin?” he whispered to her. 

She shot out of bed and wrapped her arms tight around his waist. She sobbed softly into his stomach and he sighed, placing a hand on her head. He didn’t know how long they stood like that, but she looked up at him with her wobbling bottom lip and tear streaked face, and he felt that ache again. It wasn’t as strong as it was when Chloe had been holding her, but it was there… “Lucifer?” she whispered, on a choked sniffle.

“Yes, darling?” His voice was soft and she was sniffling, probably getting snot all over his shirt, but still, his heart ached and he couldn’t bear to push her away (and yes, he knew he cared about them, but did he really love them like the Detective claimed that he did, was he really capable?). 

“Were you leaving?” she asked, pulling away from him and wiping her tears away with her arm. 

He sighed. “No, just checking on you…” he forced himself to smile.

“Can I stay with you and Mommy tonight?” Her breath hitched and he refused to think of it as endearing. 

“To the couch with your mother, darling,” he sighed, resigned to a sleepless night. The corner of his lips tilted up against on his will as she rushed over. He watched her pause briefly before she clambered onto the couch. He pulled the blanket off the back of it and covered them both. 

Chloe and the urchin sighed at the same time, once he’d basically tucked them in, and that ache came back, but not as sharp as it was before. “You sure you’re not dead? With Mr. Malcolm you said you died first…” Beatrice whispered. She was staring up at him from her mother’s arms. 

“I’m sure, spawn,” he offered her a smile. She didn’t seem convinced, so he perched himself next to the two of them on the edge of the couch. “Have you ever known me to tell you something that wasn’t true?” he asked her. 

“No,” she said softly. 

He hummed, brushing some of her hair out of her face, then doing the same for the Detective. “I didn’t die, Beatrice. And I wasn’t hurt,” he said softly. 

“Okay,” she yawned. And that was that, it seemed.

He watched her snuggle up to the Detective and tried to hold back the sigh he wanted to let loose. He didn’t quite manage and he couldn’t quite make himself get up and sit in the atrocious armchair on the other side of the room. He watched them until the room lightened around them and suddenly Chloe’s quiet snores (they’d started after Beatrice had fallen asleep) broke off and she was blinking up at him. “You stayed…” she whispered, soft and her eyes were filled with… with something he didn’t know how to describe. 

“Well,” he huffed self-consciously, “the urchin did ask…”

Chloe reached for him, her hand fisting in the collar of his shirt, pulled him down to her and into the gentlest kiss of his life. He couldn’t help sighing into her mouth as he cupped the back of her neck. She pulled back after a moment, her nails dragging against his jawline as he sat up. He wanted to kiss her again, to hold her mouth to his until he’d had as much as he could stand. 

He hadn’t known that she would undo him like this, that with one kiss, she would take everything from him, and he’d give it willingly. He caught her hand and held it to his chest. She nodded, tears flooding her eyes, the same as her heart. 

They stayed like that, his hand over hers, even as the morning moved on without them.

**Author's Note:**

> guys, the state of the world right now.... hope this brightens someone's day


End file.
